I deliberately left words off from this title, because I can’t think of what to say about the past few weeks that have impacted so many in this nation, and for dear ones in our own family.

What do I say to my daughter who sobs as she describes the desolation of a city she loves? What is the proper response to “ We are dipping water out of a friend’s swimming pool to flush our toilets”? Or, “I just got some ice to preserve food in our ice chest from this wonderful Baptist church in the neighborhood.”

She is resilient, fearless, hopeful, and still my little girl, and Mom could only help load her car to the roof with things we thought she would need, like my almost full propane tank. But she and Jen’s most precious cargo were things to help others! Like money stuffed in a pocket by a friend, checks from family and friends, toys and games for children who lost everything they had.

So, These Times, these horrible times , just might turn out to be those times when a people find out what is important. When our neighbors needs are more important than our own. When Our Jen and Betsy, like thousands of others, are willing to sacrifice their comfort, to help those who have no other choice. Thanks be to God.

What his question made me recall was, what in the world ever gave me the courage to begin expressing my self in writing?? It all began with a teacher!! And I bet, if you let yourself think about it, there was a teacher in your life that affected you in various ways that gave you an acknowledgment of some ability that lay dormant until that time.

Someone last night asked me a question that sent my mind reeling when I tried to answer his question. After reading one of my books, his question was how I could remember and express the short vignettes on life as I saw it! I absolutely claim no lofty, unforgettable skill, but a deep passion to gather the words that have been there for as long as I can remember in my heart. If they bring joy or contemplation on your part, good! John Heatwole, the local writer and artist called himself a Word Gatherer!

Timid, quiet little Freshman at Montevideo High School, by chance was assigned the most feared, brilliant, harsh critic of an English teacher. That was me. First essay assignment handed in with trembling,hands. Just sure that what I had penned would never be up to her high standards.

The next day in class, keeping my head down, reading an assignment, I was called to her desk. Longest walk I ever took! She just looked at me, and said, “You are a writer! Best thing I have read in a long time.” I have no idea how I made it back to my desk, but I floated on air the rest of that day, and never again feared putting a few words on paper. Another teacher, my freshman year of college, again, reputation as being highly critical, but chose one of my writing for the Freshman Pen … Literary Magazine.

So never underestimate the power of a teacher, and for my daughters who chose that occupation, I am in awe of you and your dedication. And my small gift of writing is just one example what can happen by your greater gift of encouragement to those in your care.

Old fashioned word!! I have heard that word bandied around for years, and hearing it the other day sent my mind spinning around to growing up days when Mom uttered it often over breaches of behavior in generally. So, I grew up with what was acceptable or not in clothes, demeanor, and a definite perception of what was decent.

I, of course, went straight to my thesaurus to see if anything had changed since my childhood! The definition I liked best was this: Honorable, following the acceptable rules of moral conduct! Wow! Mom was right even back then!

I’m a bit homesick for that old fashioned word. It’s meaning has not changed, but we have. Anything other than “honorable “ seems to be acceptable!

I like Mom’s ideas best! Anything that makes you cringe as you accept it, or make you think of its bad impact on others is not honorable. I was told the other day to just close my eyes and do this particular thing!Never!!! With eyes wide open, I’ll seek the honorable way!

That phrase doesn’t mean a lot to most people, but in the Blose household it was, in many ways, the culmination of the summer’s focus for our family. As soon as school was on summer break, our children and Bill were caught up in the activity of presenting to the public the best the farm had to show to represent our farm in show animals.

This morning, on their daily messages to each other, out came the memories of early morning chores,, loose cows trying to escape show halters, and many more, I am sure, that they don’t tell Mama.

I reminded them again that Bill’s trust in them to take this responsibility was just one more way he recognized their capabilities. So I want to promote the greatest youth movement in our country, the 4H Club and the FFA programs that our children has access to in this county.

You don’t have to be a “farm” kid to be a part of the greatest, most necessary thing in our world, Food! My girls were blessed with a visual way with show animals, and a farm atmosphere, but the things they learned went far beyond farming for a living.

Go to the fair, see those young people, tell them how much you appreciate them, and as you scarf down that fried chicken, or funnel cake, or pork barbecue, think about a way you can help in the movement of providing food for all.

I hope I don’t cause a hurtful dialogue by quoting Robert Frost, the poet, when he said, “Home is the place when you have to go there, they have to take you in!”

Note the “have to” in his quote! Because we all know, that that might not be true for everyone. But this whole week has been one of those reunions!! And everyone, either in body or in spirit who attended were taken in.

I believe these occasions are important for our psyches for the connection to our lives, with not only those who are there, but more importantly, with those who are not. Not only those separated by death, or by distance either emotionally, or physically, but for our own ability to visit the past happenings of our own life.

The very best thing that can happen at a family reunion is where love is shared, faults forgiven, differences accepted, and honor restored and thankfulness expressed for those men and women who gave us the gift of life itself. Charlie and Annie Raines were in full presence this week as we expressed all of the above to each other. Thank you God for family.

Drifting off to sleep last night, physically exhausted but emotionally grateful for a family filled evening with children and grandchildren and even 3 great-grandchildren, my last thought was, “Ellen, savor this moment,”

One great gift of aging, I think, is the realization that time is a dwindling treasure that we can’t afford to waste. Remember those days in our lives when we couldn’t wait for the time we could drive a car, or graduate school, or get married, or make money, or whatever thing that always seemed to be in the future? Well, all at once the future is now!

Betsy has been visiting for a few days, and for some of that time, we went chasing memories! Visiting her old elementary school, first ball field, where grandparents grew up, and she relived, for just a moment, time and experiences important to her.

The song, If I Could Save Time in a Bottle, by Jim Croce, is really a love ballad, but phrases like, “If I Could Make Days Last Forever” or “But There Never. Seems To Be Enough Time”, is a great reminder to me, especially, that despite all the advice of time saving tips, time can not be saved, only savored. Spend your moments well.

Sarah and I went to a service last night at our church, and came home with a better understanding and better historical facts about what is called Juneteenth Day, or Freedom Day.

Let’s all admit that, most of us, not affected by some happening that doesn’t affect us, pay little attention to its occurrence. That was me and Juneteenth!

Having heard Lincoln’s word read in its entirety, and hearing things we had never heard before, Sarah and I declared we were going home and look those facts up ! Some of those questions were about why certain counties is Virginia and Louisiana were exempted from freeing their slaves.

Since the country was still consider at war, only the

counties controlled by union troops were able to enforce this proclamation. And it took two years before Texas even got word of it until the Union General Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19 in 1865….two years after Lincoln’s proclamation. Texas has celebrated that day as Freedom Day since 1866.

So,, why is all this important in our 2024? Why do we gather to hear stories of our history? I believe now more than ever, when forces try to divide us, when schools are told by some that our children don’t need to know things that make us feel bad, when we search for ways to make this country the refuge and gateway for a better life, we need to honor all people seeking those same things.

I think the saddest thing about the legal and political climate in our country right now is that it tramples all over our dreams. Our dream that some brave people centuries ago dared to forge into reality. A dream of freedoms, a dream of equality, a dream of peacefully living, and most of all, a responsible citizenship to hold that dream safe.

We have foolishly believed it was enough. We worked on, or at least recognized,some of our gaffes with indigenous and enslaved peoples. Now, we want our children to not feel guilt, so we seek to eliminate it from our minds and teachings. When did we eliminate the dream?

That dream, that beautiful dream, has caused this nation to slap down despots like Hitler, and communistic leaders, and threats against that dream wherever we discover it. And now the battle to save it must be fought within our own boundaries.

Keep that dream alive. Division, hateful rhetoric, untruths, have no part in it. Democracy has been the “Great Experiment “ for the nations of the world. Can such a dream be doable? Can equality and personal responsibility be the bookends to our society? We have thought so! I still think so! I still have a dream.

This blog is for my aging friends, (Old leaves a bad taste on my tongue as I say it) and I regret the first text to my girls after a small fall I took. What I said was,”I just had my first Old Woman fall!!“

After living on a farm all my life, escaping snorting bulls, big Leghorn roosters bent, on a fight, lawnmowers on slick, green banks, six labor and delivery adventures, flus and Covid, and even a thunder and lightning storm or two, I have fallen! Taken down, head over heels by a treacherous, deadly deck chair and flower pot.

I did fall last Thursday with some bruises and just enough pain to remind me of something, This “aging” thing is a whole new arena of adventures! After a lifetime of hurrying, moving instinctively, to accomplish what I was doing, the call now is for cautious , thoughtful procedures that in no way involve bulls, roosters, lawnmowers, and illnesses, but to realize my greatest threats lie in those terrifying , dangerous deck chairs and flower pots.

in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday of May be a national holiday honoring mothers.

So across this country, minds and hearts ,this day, are reveling in memories of , or interaction with, the one who not only gave us life, but gave us the nurture and guidance that made life sustainable.

Last night, our daughter, Sarah, before a family dinner,gave us a brief homily on motherhood that was just the right touch to the impact and the inclusion into this great institution of Motherhood. She declared that anyone who cares for, or makes life better for another being, is a Mother.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone whose heart overflows with a love so powerful that you just have to share it. That’s Motherhood!